Evening Star Newspaper, December 26, 1931, Page 4

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. BATURDAY...December 26, 1931 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 1 and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. icago Office: Lake Michigan Building. uropean Office:_14 Regent St., London, England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Evening Star..... 45c per month The Evening and Sun T (when 4 Sundays) ..........60c per month he Evening and Sunday Star (when 5 Sundays) el 65 The Sunday Star ... ... Collection made at the end of ‘each Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday.... 1yr., $10.00; 1 mo., aily only .. C.1yr. "$6.00: 1 mo. unday only .. 1¥r., $4.00; 1 mo. All Other States and Canada. ally and Sunday...1yr. $12.00: 1 mo., $1.00 1, aily only ..., 1 §8.00i 1 mo., " 78¢ Bunday only .1yr. $5.00i 1mo., B0c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively ertitled to the use for republication of all news df atches credited 1o it or not otherwise cred- er and also the local news All rights of publication of herein are wlso reserved. Help for the Railroads. The decision of the Interstate Com- merce Commission, granting to the rail- roads of the country the right to in- crease freight rates on many commodi- ties, excluding particularly agricultural commodities, with the proviso that the gains from the increased rates are to be used to aid the weaker roads, is a step in the right direction. The rail- roads are the backbone of the trans- portation system, and any serious break- down in them would be a disaster to business and industry generally. It has become increasingly apparent that unless some steps were taken to aid the roads there was grave danger that not only operation of the roads wou! be impaired, but also railroad cred:t. Impairment of railroad credit would have a widespread effect, hitting hard both the individual investors in rail- road securities and the holders of huge blocks of railroad bonds, including in- surance companies and savings banks and other institutions. The adjustment of the proposal for the increase in rates provides that the additional earnings are to be pooled and then loaned to the weaker roads so that they may be able to meet their interest charges. Originally the Interstate Com- merce Commission recommended that these increased earnings be pooled, but with the understanding that they be gifts to the weaker roads. This the railway executives strenuously opposed. One argument advanced by them was that the proposed gifts could not be legally consummated and that any stockholder objecting could go into the | courts and prevent the operation of the whole plan. The roads then made an alternative suggestion, that the money pooled from the increased earnings due to the rate ralses be “loaned” to the weaker roads. It is this proposition that the commission has now agreed to accept, a wise decision. It has been estimated that the pro- posed increases in freight rates will net about $125,000,000. This is materially less than the roads sought when last Summer they applied to the commission to be allowed to impose a blanket fifteen per cent increase in all freight rates. Buch an increase, it was estimated, would have brought the roads in $400,- 000,000 of additional revenue. The com- mission in denying this request made by the roads took into consideration the depressed concition of the business of the country. It did not appear wise, even in the interest of aiding the rail- roads, to place such an added burden on the farmer and the industrialist and the consumer. The commission, how- ever, took cognizance of the plight of the railroads, with their revenues drop- ping lower and lower and many of them threatened with disaster and a number of them already “in the red.” In a de- cision which was constructive in its ad- vice to the railways and which partic- ularly sought to aid the weaker roads during the depression, the commission suggested its counter proposal. The railroads finally agreed to try out the plan of the commission, but with the amendment already described. A revival of business is the great need of the railroads today, as, generally speaking, it is of every activity in the country. The railway executives have sought in many ways to save the situa- tion for their companies by reducing 2xpenditures to the minimum. Their Jast resort was a reduction in the wage scale, and steps have been taken to negotiate such a reduction, in accord- ance with the provisions of the trans- portation act. If the decision of the Interstate Commerce Commision now to permit the proposed increase in rates on many commodities will aid in mak- ing wage cuts unnecessary, so much the better. However, the railroad problem is one that cannot wait much longer for solution. It changes with condi- sions of business and industry. Under rigid supervision and rate fixing by the agency of the Federal Government, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the roads have been powerless to help them- selves as they otherwise would have done. It is the duty of the Government, under all the circumstances, to come %o the aid of the railroads now. Addi- tional credit facilities for them are in the making. Congress has been asked to take steps which will better the situation. It should do so. . Cheer up, housewives; the last spruce or pine needle will be out of the rugs and corners by next Christmas. e The Weakest Link. A remarkable feature of the tragic accident Christmas eve in Rock Creek Park, when a skidding automobile crashed through a wooden guard rail to plunge over the edge of a sheer drop twenty feet or so to the roadway beneath, is the fact that had the car got out of control a fraction of a second later it would have ended its slide against a strong stone wall. In other words, the roadway at this point is well and ade- quately protected, except for a relatively short stretch of wooden fence that af- fords, as demonstrated, no protection. No road is safer than the most unpro- tected spot, and this was the scene of the accident. ‘The roads in Rock Creek Park were tFrench foodstuffs and luxury articles. [ But the automobile has changed all| this, and the accldent of Thursday is' another demonstration of need for & careful inspection of hazards that could be removed by the provision of proper safeguards. 'This is especially true of the stretch of roadway through Rock Creek Park that connects Tilden street and Park road. A few years ago this was merely another link in the system of park drives. Now it is one of the ! most heavily traveled of trafic high- ways. Thousands of drivers every day choose this, the most direct route from cast to west of the park north of the Taft and Calvert Street bridges. And as the 1 rk is relatively free from in- tersectio) -, the cars proceed at a high speed, t' > more dangerous because of the nelure of the park roadway. The road i@ rather winding, and, although widensd and resurfaced within the last year, the curves are not well banked and the surface becomes slippery and treacherous with the first few drops of rain. At the point where the accident cccurred on Thursday a road branches Off from the upper driveway to connect With the lower roadway that follows the creek. To the east of this Junction there is & rocky cliff. A stone wall af- fords ample protection for the greater part of the way, but for a few feet a wooden fence, not very strong, serves more as a warning than anything else. There are other places in the park drives that need additional safeguards. These should be provided, either by heavy wooden fences or cables that will not yield under the impact of a skidding automobile. ————————— France Feels the Pinch. France is discovering that it is a long lane which has now no turning, even though it be the path along which pros- perity has been taking its course, The Associated Press reports from Parls that, | last among the European nations to feel the world depression, the French at the dawn of 1932 foresee many economic difficulties ahead of them. High tariffs enacted by Great Britain and a prospective decrcase in the tour- ist industry are two immediate causes of French gloom. The British are or- dinarily heavy consumers of certain John Bull's new emergency tariff will {hit these commodities directly. The | English wealthy classes for generations I have been the bulwark of the French | Winter resorts. With the slump in the | pound sterling, Albion's leisured element [is not in mood this season to indulge in the expensive gayeties of Biarritz, where King Edward loved to frolic; of the French Riviera, or of such festive nooks as Chamonix, Pau and Argeles and Paris itself. Already France is paying the dole to 72,000 unemployed. The country’s job- less population is estimated at 250,000. This is a trifling total compared either to the French population or the num- bers out of work in other European countries and America. But the fig- ures testify that the French are no longer immune from the economic pes- tilence which afflicts the world beyond their shores. In addition to direct un- employment relief, the government has put forward the second slice of its national equipment plan designed to furnish work to some 100,000 laborers. The enterprise is to cost the national treasury about $120,000,000, with smaller contributions from local communities. The money was set aside for road im- provements, extended port facilities, new school houses and playgrounds. The pinch the French are now feel- ing—especlally if it becomes aggravated as Winter wears on—has an aspect that may ramify into the international political field. France holds the key to the disarmament sifuation. It is axiomatic that unless and until she is ready to cut down her military estab- lishment reduction of armies in Europe will remain an idle dream. Hitherto the French have stood adamant for the principle that nothing but guaranteed security will induce them to decrease their land defensive establishment. It is possible that the time may be coming when adversity will persuade Prance to consider proposals now termed by her undebatable. In 1930-31 she expended $541,300,000 on armaments—a per | capita outlay of $13.13, or roundly twice the per capita sum spent by the United States. The creeping ravages of depression are well designed to make the logical and thrifty French people wonder whether their armaments game is worth the candle. [, Pennsylvania, only a few yerrs ago almost denuded of her deer, reports 1,800 of them killed in Somerset County alone this past season. How come? ‘Well, not by reason of a long season and slack supervision. Sportsmanship, marksmanship and conservation are a trio hard to beat in the long run. ——e—ee— Opera by Radio. An experiment tried yesterday after- noon in the broadcasting of opera from New York City proved an unqualified success. From the stage of the Metro- politan Opera House the entire per- formance of Humperdinck’s “Hansel und Gretel” was sent forth throughout the country in full, from the overture to the finale, with every bar of the music, every syllable of the singing voices, and with the action described briefly but vividly by a competent in- terpreter, himself a composer of opera. This was Deems Taylor, whose “Peter Ibbetson” is ranked as one of the nota- ble successes of modern times. He sat in a glass-inclosed box in the “golden horseshoe” of the opera house and car- ried the “unseen audience” through every phase of the performance, with a minimum of interruption to the music. The voices of the singers were clear and distinct and the crchestral effects were smooth and complete. Mr. Taylor's intimate interpretive and descriptive observations made it possible for those who have never been favored with op- portunity to hear this post-Wagnerian classic to visualize as well as to hear | the entire performance. The broadcasting of opera has been proposed heretofore, but with the ex- ception of a few small performances, staged especially for the purpose, there has been no previous attempt to send an actual presentation over the air from the very stage of the production. Nu- merous technical problems had to be solved before this could be accomplished, the proper placing of microphones for the voices and particularly the develop- ment of a large instrument suspended laid out for leisurely carriage drives.’ above the orchestra and the stage of The sharp turns and the sudden drops a shape to include the vibrations of all Beld no dangers for the walking horse. the mstruments, Engineering control THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C also was needed to a high degree to pre. vent undue crashing in the louder pas. sages of the orchestration. Yesterday's achievement demonstrated that these problems have been solved, and it is now believed that opera can be satisfac- torily broadcast in almost any condition and with any program. Hesitation on the part of the opera conductors and management on the score of the competition, as it were, of , radio to lessen attendance at the opera performances themselves appears to have been overcome, and now it is re- ported that they are enthusiastic in the belief that through broadcasting opera will be made popular with the multitude and will tend to increase attendance rather than diminish it. Whatever may be the effect upon the box office, it is certain that the broadcasting of opera will be of a high educational value, and will serve to develop a larger body of music appreciators in this country, scoring another success for radio as an educational influence. . Glider Records. To the layman the records now being established in all parts of the world by motorless planes are nothing short of remarkable. In the past few years glider marks have steadily become more astonishing as to duration, height and distance flown and it is quite evi- dent that the study of air currents nec- essary to perform these feats is of tre- mendous aid in promoting man’s knowl- edge for the building of planes. In Honolulu recently, at a glider meet sponsored by the island chapter of the National Aeronautic Assoclation, Lieut. William A. Cook, jr, of the United States Air Corps landed his frail craft on the windward side of Oahu Island. He had been aloft in his motorless plane for twenty-one hours, thirty-four minutes and fifteen seconds, seven hours and twenty minutes longer than the existing record, which was held by a German. He had flown more than four hundred miles and his instruments indicated that he had reached an alti- tude of three thousand five hundred feet. Such a feat deserves the highest credit. It proves that man has made great strides in his study of the upper strata and in his development of ships to navigate it. Better and safer air- planes will inevitably be the result of this progress. 2 ————— If Washington central telephone offices are just now enduring extra and inexplicable trouble, it is probably due to subscribers who have read of the trussed-up bank cashier who dialed a number with his tongue and who are trying to see if they can do the same stunt. e ————— Demonstrations of how British goods are manufactured are being staged in London’s subway stations. We have no program quite so comprehensive, but in ours we do, at least, show how sardines are packed. e — A Cleveland youth is in the toils of the law because for twenty-one con- secutive evenings his good-night to his | sweetheart consisted I pulling a false alarm, with all the resultant rumpus. She must be a siren. Britain is inaugurating a series of piscatorial names for her submarines, her newest having been christened “Swordfish.” It is wondered if she will patriotically include “Yarmouth Bloater.” —_— et “What toys do children prefer?” asks a correspondent of a question-and- answer column. It has been the ex- perience of many, many parents that they seem to prefer those presented to their brothers and sisters, e Santa Claus has of recent years graduated from furs to a slicker and gum-boots. It may be that eventually this traditional figure will wear a linen duster and carry a palm-leaf fan. ————e— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. “On Yoh Way!” December go a-slippin’ along ‘Whar de sky is cold an’ gray, An’ as she go she sing dis song: “On yoh way, chile! On yoh way! Dar ain’ no use of a-turnin’ back To travel de recollection track. You wants to look forward, fur a fack— On yoh way, chile! On yoh way! “Oh, January's nex’ in line, An’ it ain’ so long till May, When de flowers will bloom an’ de sun will shine! On yoh way, chile! On yoh way! Dar’s gineter be ice an’ sleet an’ snow, An’ de weeks will seem to travel slow, But a smile an’ a song will help 'em go. On yoh way, chile! On yoh way!” Insomnia, “Politics makes strange bedfellows.” “Not always,” replied Senator Sor- ghum. “Politics is liable to get us all so worried that nobody can sleep.” Varying Circumstances. “That man prides himself on saying exactly what he means.” “Does he?” exclaimed Miss Cayenne. “Don’t you admire him?” “T don’t know. Saying precisely what you mean may be a virtue; and then, again, it may be only carelessness.” Natural Eloguence. Oh, let me roar and shout things, Nor chide my thoughtless way. If T thought more about things I might have less to say. Worldly Wisdom. “Have you read that scientist's latest estimate of the age of the world?” “No,” answered the pessimistic per- son. “The exact age of this erratic world does not interest me. Whatever the exact figures may be, there’s no doubt that it is old enough to know bet- ter.” A man who has struggled into the glare of the spotlight may find that it reveals defects more relentlessly than an X-ray machine, Delay. Investigations, like as not, ‘Will mystify the average man. Before they’re finished you've forgot Just how the trouble first began. “Talkin' 'bout yoh troubles,” said Uncle Eben, “ain’ liable to make 'em any less. Hard-luck stories is 'most al- ways de kind dat allus winds up ‘to be eontinued.’ Uy THIS AND THAT BY.CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The countryside in a mild Winter is quite different from the countryside during a normal Winter. No doubt the weather is the chief difference. Whether it is changing or not is a matter about which meteorologists may dispute, but never the so-called man in the street. He is convinced that the weather is changing. If any one doubts this he points to the Christmas just past. The entire Autumn and Winter so far, what are these but proofs that the weather is changing? At any rate the countryside in the average Winter is not so green. Rosebushes, in many instances, have scarce lost their leaves. Privet stays fresh and many other things grow luxuriantly, to say noth- ing of beginning to put forth leaf buds. ‘The grass is greener in most places, while lawns, new-sown last Fall, are as bright as emeralds at this time. This unusgsl depth of color touches the entire countryside, giving it an in- tensity seldom seen, even in such a comparatively mild climate as Wash- ington and vicinity. * K K X Squirrels are particularly fat this Winter. As one walks along the suburban streets and along country roads he will see scores of these merry fellows, their little bodies fairly bursting with fat. What plumes of tails the squirrels flaunt this year! Never has the countryside boasted fatter squirrels, and this despite the pessimistic utterances of the amateur weather forecasters, who predicted a tough time of it for the wild things this Winter. This inaccurate prognos- tication was based, evidently, on the first evidences of rodent fat. It is true that the Winter may not continue warm. There is plenty of time left for a severe time of it. But it must be in_the future. | If that time comes the squirrels will | be in good condition to meet it, judg- | ing from the fine specimens which may | be seen racing along sidewrlks, bound- ing up and down trees icampering | along old fence rafls. These rodents seem to gev, a peculiar pleasure out of an old-fashioned rail | fence. We mean the sort with bark on. It is this bark, no doubt, which | makes the little fellows with the big | tails feel Tight at home. The tree is the squirrel's habitat, is at home there. It is his place of | refuge. It is his playground. It is his | street and his circus. Surely he has the time of his life as he leaps and | races through the branches, or even | contemplates a tree from afar. If the squirrels could do it, they| would select Joyce Kilmer's poem, | “Trees,” as the squirrel national an- | them. it * K Kk X There are more squirrels along the | country roads this Winter than in years. In the suburban residential sec- | tions they have come out in force, | taking possession of the great oaks as | their own by right. | It is seldom that the suburban ! dweller can walk a block without see- ing at least a dozen. We counted 20 of these Interesting rodents in two blocks one morning shortly before Christmas. | One fat fellow ran up a shrub about 7 feet high and perched himself on the twig at the very top. “Now what are you going to do?” we | asked him as he gazed down upon us. He gave us a roguish look, as if to | say, “Watch me!” | Then he made a flying leap into a tree which grew on the other side of | the walk. ! ‘The jump seemed impossible, but of course he made it, being - squirrel. They are canny littie bodies and never attempt the impossible. To a human being their leaps often seem impossible, but not to them. Before they leap they measure the distance with their little beady eyes. Then a sort of instinct tells them whether to do it or not. It is this instinct, as we call it, for lack of a better name, which is al- ways of interest to those who love the animals. What makes a cat decide to lick its face, in preference to its right hind foot? Or. after it has washed its face for a while, why does it transfer its at- tentions to the left rear leg, in prefer- ence to the right? What mysterious guide is it which the dog uses as he walks along an alley :}x;‘:l 3?:;“ mt at g?ehg-u, but not at next, which is equ: inyitingly open? e They go about all these actions with such a major air of sagacity that the human spectator would swear that they had thought the whole matter out beforehand. and were now but carry- ing thelr campaign into execution. * ok ox ¥ The warm weather has not noticea- bly increased the number or variety of bird visitors. From the dining room windows we see occastonally a cardinal, loveliest of our common birds. At rare Intervals there are strange tweets and :;ns;r;g:r:mg lr% small birds which now. They sta; honrs n’x:d arcigones L or have they gone out into the real countryside, out where one might 1xenj agine himself in Arkansas, so few are the evidences of civilization to be seen, although the observer knows that just over yonder rise lies area. This is the real countrysi i ould be beautitul in smowstar. B , on a cloudy day in a it Tu very mu&r{snr{x. TR neer he road winds slightly, a road wi would not stand up any Yoo well ;h&;g: ;:;:;r, evlden:l‘i Ahf:eld of ornamental , NOW quite white, vay Hereselity q stretches away Through the woods are to parts of the front elevation orbea “fne brick dwelling. No doubt the owner built it there to secure peace and quiet. Time will overtake him, however. It is only a matter of years before they will be building in his backyard. And what is that yonder? A log cabin! Well, did we not tell you that this is the real countryside? Pigeon Creek, :E¢;; flbrghum ngcoln spent part of yhood, must have looke: deal like this. gt Beyond it the road swoops dow: hundred feet or more, andp!moa::;‘vr: through the valley, and up again, dis- appearing over the ridge. Take out the map, and look at the countours. Yes, just what we thought 365 feet elevation up here, 250 feef down there. Exactly 115 feet difference, It looks it. This is the countryside, which would be beautiful in a deep snow, lovely but treacherous going. And to think, that 2 50 years from now, & well populated 5 years from now, all this will so Whnged, that 1o ane would recognize ir. | finds pathos in the relations of Caesar | his'oreanization has remained in gen- | Of recent | as usually been | Highlights on the Wide World Where there are flelds there will be homes, and where this unfinishi | character puzzled Antony; but Caesar, | dips downward 8o swiftly there wii o | believing him o be his son, Would nesr | a gentle grade for a concrete boulevard. The kinks will be taken out of the thoroughfare, and electric lights will make their appearance. But it will be countryside still, though countryside of the civilized variety, much more so than that strange thing known as the “city proper.” Co-operating Wet Forces Studied as Political Factor Varying effects are seen as the proposal to maintain a common in- | terest among the anti-prohibitionists in } both the Republican and Democratic | parties. Much attention also has been | given to the suggestions from Benator Bingham and Representative Tilson of Connecticut for the establishment of State authority in liquor matters. “That Republican Congressmen should band together to bring about a change in the prohibition law is significant,” | says the Scranton Times, quoting Rep- resentative James Beck of Philadelphia, chosen ieader of the Republican wet | bloc in the House, as stating that his bloc “stands ready to co-operate with the Democratic wet group in pressing for action in this session for a change.” The Times offers the opinion: “Regard- less of any action now by Congress, the question is sure to be a major one in the campaign next year. Nor can either of the great perties dodge responsibility {lor an outright declaration on the ques- on.” The Charlotte Observer gives attention to the fact that 68 Democrats and 49 Republicans have combined in & fight | on_prohibition, having united on two | bills—“one for modification and one | calling for a referendum on the eight- eenth amendment.” The Observer | continues: “Senator Bingham has been blazing the way by introducing a variety of bills, rounding it all up with a reso- lution that would wipe off the dry slate. If the Bingham amendment is adopted, it would nullify the amendment. It is | written as a revision of the fifth article of the Constitution and provides ‘that no amendment conferring added power over the people of the United States or their individual rights shall hereafter be | adopted validly otherwise than by con- ventions of the people meeting in their several States’ The new amendment requires a ratifying vote by conventions in three-fourths of the States, and stip- ulates that delegates to such conven- tions for any proposed amendment shall be chosen at a :ep:ra'.e public election.” * % “Senator Bingham's plan for amend- ment,” according to the Hartford Times, “‘contemplates complete return of con- trol over liquor to the States and seeks 2 mass referendum on his plan. Mr. Tilson’ goes at the maiter in another way. He would make the eighteenth amendment ineffective in States which have their own liquor laws, reserving for Congress the full power to tax the manufacture and sale of legalized intox- lcating beverages. Thus a State could get out from under Fedbral prohibition by enacting its own liquor laws. This plan would leave the eightesnth amend- ment in force except where something is put in the place of it. The other would abolish the eighteenth amend- ment. The two attack the problem from opposite sides.” Pointing out that for the first time an anti-prohibition Mgubllom group has been formed in the House, the Providence Bulletin offers the judgment as to the probable results: *‘What is so pleasing about this new group is the sign that anti-prohibition sentiment is rapidly being welded into organization, the absence of which in the has caused diffusion of energy. ere will be few wasted shots from now on; the drive will enjoy a single direction; strategy will be unified under intelligent command. It is to be noted that the leader of the new organization and its secretary stand poles apart in their po- litical and economic viewpoints. 'n:e ilson eonmtlmog:mmend: ment, to power over mm‘mmlm and still keep out the saloon,” is criticized by the Janesville Gazette, which charges hy- pocrisy, and declares that “if we have liquor, we shall have saloons.” The Gazette also argues: “We should have the issue set down squarely—either pro- hibitlon or the saloon. There is no middle ground in this affair. We have demonstrated clearly that any office becomes corrupt in this Nation as soon as there is a great sum.of money to a result of \be made by official connivance and | been cast upon it.” entrance into a conspiracy to defeat a law. It is so the world over. It will be much better to have a licensed salocn, with all the corruption that fol- lowed in the wake of the old saloon, minion and sidestepping and graft that it would entafl.” * ok ox % “Neither party can establish a claim to being the wet party.” in the opinion of the Charleston (S. C. Evening Post. “The Democrats have taken the lead in the North against prohibition, but in the South they still cling for- mally to it. The Republican party is officially the dry party, since its tit- ular leader, Mr. Hoover, is committed to the support of prohibition until he definitely declares otherwise, and he will be held strictly to an accounting by the dry organizations that claim him as their own. The wet bloc in Congress should move with a single | aim and make no pretensions as to party affiliation or advantage. If that is done, progress toward a sane atti- tude on the subject of the liquor traffic | will be possible.” | It is believed by the Baltimore Sun that “it may be quite a while before the desires of the growing reform group are reflected in the national pronounce- ments of the Republican party.” and it finds suggestions of “a popular awakening that ought to make it easier for the Democratic party to get itself finally right on this issue.” The Sun continues: “And if the Democratic party cannot get into line behind a proper settlement, there are still non- partisan agencies that can be made to respond to the desires of that in- creasing army of citizens who see in the eighteenth amendment and the Volstead act the instrumentalities of praft, corruption and crime without parallel and who would march forward to decency and reform.” —_— e Bring Back 10-Cent Hog, Says Nebraska From the Omaha World-Herald. ‘What Nebraska needs more than 60- cent corn is 10-cent hogs. The latter would add dollars where the former would add dimes to the agricultural cash income of the State. ‘The fuss which is made over grain prices, compared with the lack of it over live stock prices, considering the relative importance of the two to this State, presents a curious phenomenon. Nebraska is pre-eminently and pre- ponderantly & producer and marketer of live stock and its products. Less than a third of its corn crop leaves the State as a surplus cash crop. The remainder is marketed “on the hoof.” The State’s cash income’ from all the corn, wheat, oats, rye and barley which it sells is less than from either its cattle or its hog sales. A. E. Anderson, Federal and State crop statistician, estimates a gross cash income to Nebraska farms for the year ending June 30, 1930, of $464,- 000,000, Live stock and live-stock products brought in $330,000,000 of that, cash crops $134,000,000. The ag- gregate farm income for the past 10 years has been more than $4,000,000,000, of which 71 per cent was derived from live stock and 29 per cent from cash crope. Hogs have been celebrated in Ne- braska husbandry as “mortgage Mft- But a hog that sells for $4 a hundred can’t lift a mortgage very high and it takes a flretty well finished hog to bring as much as $4 a hundred on the Omaha market these days. Be- sides which freight, commission and yardage charges have to be deducted from the price before the farmer is Bri X the 10-cent hog and 60- mmmh:m take care of itself with- out any warehouse laws or $25,000 spe- clal sessions of the lature. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1931 THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover Arthur Weigall, antiquities for the tian govern- ment 1905-1914, has in recent years drawn upon his scholarly knowledge and made good use of a gift for bio- logical and geographical writing in a series of books on periods and charac- ters of ancient history—"The Life and Times of Akhnaton,” “A History of the Pharaohs,” “A Guide to ;h; Ant{gu&g&l of Upper Egypt,” “Wanderings 0- man Britain,” “Wanderings in Aglo- Saxon Britain,” “The Grand Tour of Norman England,” “The Life and Times of Cleopatra,” “Nero, Emperor of Rome,” and this Autumn “The Life and Times of Marc Antony.” Mr. Weigall's style is that of the “new” biography, very per- conal, but not entirely given over to scandal, as are some writers of that | type of biographies. He holds some new theories about the famous, romantic Antony, chief among them that Antony and Cleopatra were married at a festival at Samos in 32 B.C. and that he in- tended to share with her the sover- eignty of the civilized world. He also believes that Antony’s defeat at the battle of Actium was due to a quarrel with Cleopatra the night before, which so unnerved him that he thought only of a reconciliation and turned his ship about to follow her briefly for that pur- pose, intending to return Xmmedlfltcg' to the battle. The time lost threw victory to Octavian. general of * ok ok % ‘The time covered by “The Life and Times of Marc Antony” is from 134 B.C., when the Gracchi were initiating socialistic measures at Rome, to 30 B.C., when Antony died by his own sword. The facts dealt with are those of all our school ancient history text books, and we are so familiar with them that as we read we can see the black-faced type which marked the paragraph headings in “Myers' Ancient History,” or some other of the same period—eg., “The Wanderings of Marius,” “The Pro- scriptions of Sulla,” “The Abuses of Verres,” “Caesar, Crassus and Pompey,” “Caesar Crosses the Rubicon” and “Last Struggle of the Republic at Philippi.” Yet the interpretation is so_ different that we can sometimes hardly believe we are reading of the classical heroes of our youth, of the Caesar of the “com- mentaries,” the Caesar of the “ora- tions,” or even the Catiline of Sallust. Certainly Caesar is not exactly the lofty colossus of Shakespeare'’s *“Julius Caesar,” nor Antony the entirely ro- mantic figure of Shakespeare's “Antony and Cleopatra,” though in his case the resemblance is closer. The most in- teresting things in the book are the interpretations of the historic events, the vivid details, which most of the histories of ancient times condense or cmit, and the characterizations of the great personages of the period. The facts of the historic story, most of the intimate details, and even many of the interpretations are drawn from as orig- inal sources as exist, such as Appian, Cicero, Diodorus, Florus, Plutarch, Sal- lust, Valerius Maximus, Velleius Pater- culus, Suetonius, Eutropius, Juvenal, Martial and many others. * O x % In “The Life and Times of Marc Antony” Caesar appears in his youth as a “curled and scented young fop, 5o overdressed and effeminate in appear- | ance that nobody could then accuse him :of being a supporter of the rough cratic party whose most exaggerated manners he emulated.” Mr. Weigall jand Brutus. “Brutus was a man whose {no word against him. There are not | many incidents in Caesar’s life, nor | | temperamental passage, which inspire {in us any sense of sympathetic sorrow |on his account; he was so self-suffi- | cient, so fortunate, so absorbed in the pursuit of his ambitions, that he makes [little demand upon our compassion. Yet the story of his relationship to Bru- tus is pitiful He loved Brutus, but Brutus disapproved of him, and therein lay the dictator’s tragedy. . . Brutus was anxious to disavow, in public at any rate, his relationship to the dic- tator, for he could not tolerate the thought that he was illegitimate and had no right to his name, and he wished also to clear his mother’s repu- tation of aspersions which had so long ¢ Cicero, limitlessly | vain and desperately anxious always to | be on the winning side in the upheavals | of the times, was, according to the evi- | dence offered by Mr. Weigall, violent in | his_hatreds. without a sense of justice, |than to have liquor administered by ' 2nd ridiculous in his frantle rushings | the State, with all the political do-|&bout in search of preferment and | power. “Cicero, it will be recalled, had { for long been on bid terms with his | wife, Terentia, who was a cold, critical | | woman, incapacitated, it would seem, | | by sheer honesty from responding as he | would wish to his herotts and his emo- tional outbursts. One feels that the vears had opened her eyes to his short- comings, and that she had no bouquets now to lay upon the altar of his vanity. But to Cicero flattery was the breath of life.” Antony is a favorite with Mr. Welgall. He says of him: “His nature was very lovable. ‘His generous ways,’ writes Plutarch, ‘his open and lavish friends did a great deal for him in his first advance to power, and, after he had become great, long maintained his fortunes when a thousand follies were | bastening their overthrow. In love af- fairs also he was very agrecable, gain- {ing many friends by the assistance he gave them in theirs, and taking other people’s jokes about his own with good humor. ‘'What might seem to some very insupportable—his showing off, his fun, his drinking in public, his sitting down with common soldiers while they were having their meals, or eating, as he stood, off their tables—made him, later, the delight and pleasure of the army.’ . He was a tender-hearted, senti- mental and somewhat chivalrous young man; and, as the following pages will reveal, he stands out as one of the few notable vehicles of occasional humane dealing in a savage and intensely cruel age. His simplicity, however, is the feature of his character which most fully wins him our sympathy.” * ok % % Without “debunking” one of our na- tional heroes, Joseph Hergesheimer in his “Sheridan: a Military Narrative,” dispels some of the romantic glamour attaching to “Sheridan’s Ride.” He is inclined to believe from the evidence that Sheridan moved rather slowly on that occasion and that his military tactics were not of the best. He em- tary fame is based on three achieve- ments—the taking of Missionary Ridge in 1863; the devastation of the Shen- andoah Valley in 1864, and the obstruc- tion of Lee’s retreat in 1865, so that Lee was forced to surrender to Grant. Sheridan was a favorite with Grant, Mr. Hergesheimer says, who gave him his opportunities. Sheridan, though “quiet” and “unimpressive,” won and held the devotion of his men. * % x x Grace Hegger Lewis, first wife of Sinclair Lewis, has written a novel, “Half a Loaf,” portraying the difficulties of the wife of a successful author—and of the author himself. Critics have not failed to suggest that it has en autobiographical tinge. Timmy Hale, the author, and his wife Susan got along fairly well as long as Timmy was Poor and struggling, but when his third novel brought success domestic troubles followed. Timmy was crude, eccentric, of plain New England stock transplanted to the Middle West. Susan was aristocratic in her tastes, snobbish, with a New York City background. It 'Was not unnatural that they separated, with rellef to both. ‘The Palestine mandate, established at the Peace Conference following the World War, has worked only moderately well, if we are to judge by the frequent complaints of both Jews and Arabs. In two volumes, Fannie Fern Andrews discusses the whole question of “The Holy Land Under Mandate.” Pal 3 about the size of the State of Maryland, ?t:! been the ;cer‘w ht:: gon v;gnungmu e throughou Y en: Gen. Allenby entered Jerusalem durin, the World War, the day of the Turl scemed ended and both Arabs and Jews became hopeful. How these hopes have been sffected since the war is part of Dr. Andrew’s story. proletariat, or a menace to the aristo- | hand in gifts and kindnesses to his | phasizes the fact that Sheridan’s mili- ' ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Stop s minute and think about this fact, Youcan ask our Information Bu- reau mwxuuon of fact and get the answer in a personal letter. It is a great educational idea introduced into | the Myes of the most intelligent people in the world—American newspaper readers. It is a part of that best purpose of a newspaper—service. There is no charge, except 2 cents in coin or stamps for return postage. Get the habit of asking questions. Address your letter to The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederick J. Haskin, Director, Wash- ington, D, C. Q. Are there any other big races run at Epsom Downs, England, Derby?—T. R. A. Other Epsom races aside from the Derby include the Oaks, on the fourth day of the May meeting, and the City and Suburban and the Great Metro- politan, both handicap races. Q. How many children of school age ployed?>—R. B* A. In a normal year about 2,120,000. Q. What is the world’s present gold supply expressed in dollars?—C. P. F. A. It is approximately $10,000,000,000. Q. Does the moon shine at the Poles during the long nights?>—G. K. A. The Naval Observatory s that the moon shines in the Arctic and Ant- arctic regions for g part of the time during the long nights. At the Pole itself the moon is above the horizon continuously during one-half of each lunar month and below the horizon con- tinuously during the other half. In the Wintertime full moon occurs when the moon is above the horizon and new moon when it is below, while in Sum- mertime new moon occurs when it is i above the horizon and full moon when it is below. Q. Are there at present any burning coal mines?>—L. M. B. . There are many burning coal mines. The most famous is the anthra- cite mine at Summi’ Hill, Pa, which has been burning since 1860. A coal deposit near Brownsville, Pa., is said to have been burning since before the Civil War. Q. What is an osler wythe’—R. A, twig. Q. How many tax-free bonds are there in the United States>—H. L. H. | A. It is estimated that the whole | volume of bonds on which no Federal income tax applies totals $18,000,000,000. Q How many electric railway cars are there in the United States”. L. A. N. L. A. About 94,000. Q. At what age are most woman prisoners committed?—G. A. A. From 21 to 24 years of age. Q. When was the French postal service established?—J. H. A. The establishment of a state post in PFrance goes back to 1464, though its early history is very obscure. Im- provements were made from time to | time in this organization. Napoleon in | been appointed to manage the postal | service by a single director general, and eral outline unchanged. years the post office Excerpts From RAVDA, Belgrade—The special tribunal for the defense of the state of Belgrade has com- menced the hearing of the case | against Jovan Belinski and 17 .other accused. A similar tribunal at Smederevo has also commenced the | case against the police superintendent | Radoch Djiditch, who is charged with {a total of 96 cases of misappropriation | of public funds. At Mitrovitza the tri- | bunal for the defense of the state has {sentenced Djuro Brkitch to 12 months hard labor under the laws for such re- pression. * Kk K | Twenty-Page Newspaper Heralded as Event in London. Daily Mail, London.—Recently, for the second time in a week, the London Evening News was enlarged to 20 pages. " No other London evening newspaper has ever had a single issue comparable Iin size with a 20-page Evening News, ,and the feat of producing two in one | week is something new even in the | history of the Evening News itself. It 15 & feat forced on It by its own suc- cess, for advertisers have demanded so much space in the newspaper, which nals, that it has had to be made bigger to preserve a true balance. ERE Municipal Charity System Held Defective. Imparcial, Montevideo.—According to municipal records, on September 1 96 applications were made to the emer- gency bureau of the Asistencia Publica Nacional for immediate assistance. Of these, only 36 proved to be cases of urgent necessity. The rest of the appli- cants were absolutely unjustified in making such appeals and were simply other instances occasioning a prejudice to the proper relief of those actually in need of supplies and other welfare at- tention. It appears that our system of municipal charity still remains very defective. P Composers Refuse To Play Fascist Hymn. " ALIA, Paris: (Ex-territorial po- mfial sheet.) The desire of Signor | Mussolini to have the Fascist hymn played as a part of every concert or | operatic performance in Italy led to a , violent conflict between Il Duce and | Prof. Arturo Toscanini at Bologna, | ‘where the latter was afterward at- tacked by a Fascist mob on account of his refusal. Eventually the conductor was obliged to leave Italy because of the Fascists, who interpreted his un- willingness to include this number in a program where it had no appropriate place as an overt act of disloyalty to the government. A similar attempt to foist the senti- ments of Fascism upon a disinterested and neutral audience has now been re- ported from the City of New York, where an American donductor, Dr. Egon Ebert, also refused to play “Gio- vinezza,” as this hymn is entitled, dur- ing a series of concerts to be performed in the Mecca Temple. Dr. Ebert finally canceled the concerts rather than in- clude this number, which, he explained, had no propriety in a purely artistic musical program, and was peculiarly | impertinent and incongruous at a Ma- sonic social gathering, in view of the acknowledged antipathy of Signor Mus- solini and the Fascists to the order. It is alleged that the suggestion of playing the hymn at_these performances came through the Italian government. Dr. Ebert, In justifying his action, stated there was just # much reason for playing the Communist “Interna- tionale” at the concerts. One selection was equally as becoming as the other. * K K X Woman’s Argument Defeats Sex flulll’ Bill. A B C, Madrid—Among the dele- gates to the Constitutional Convention of Spain there are two women, one of whom is a naturalized Spanish citizen of Hibernian ely arms in to one another, and, more singular still, upon the question of the equality of the sexes before the law. A debate between them was precipitated ‘when Senorita Kent, who was born in Ireland and is now one of the prison directars as well as & member of the sides the | are out of school because they are em- | A. This is another name for a willow | 1804 replaced a committee that had | | tion to herself”; dominates the field of evening jour-| attached to another ministry, such as treasury, public works, commerce, ete. Q. What does Shavian mean?— H B ‘A1t is an adjective indicating an allusion to George Bernard Shaw. Q. Is the Pharos near Alexandria, Egypt. still in existence’—P. D, P. A. This lighthouse, which was one of the wonders of the ancient world, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1303. Q. Is Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine really a desert’—B. D. A It is not. The name desert was given with the French significance of wild and solitary. The island vegeta- tion is exceptionally vigorous. Q. What is mea Sundays?—F. C. V. A To say that one will do a certain thing in a month of five Sundays is the equivalent of saying one will sel- dom do it. Q. What is the name of the char- acter who is the mother of Mrs. Win- dermere in “Lady Windermere's Fan"? —L.J. A Mrs. Erlynne Q. When_ was founded?—D. M A. It was founded by St. Basil in 369 AD. and consisted of a large number of buildings with houses for physicians and nurses, workshops and industrial schools. It was the first hospital, in the sense we know them today, of which there is any record. nt by a month of five V. the first hospital Q. Where is the country which has the densest population in the world? E G A. Java is one of the Dutch East Indes. It has the densest populated land mass in the world, 6484 to the square mile. | Q. Have the last two Vice Presidents cast votes in the Senate?—J. J A. The librarian of the United States Senate says that practically all Vice Presidents have. on various cecasions, cast the deciding or tie vote, both Vice President Dawes and Vice President Curtis having cast such votes several times. The last tie vote cast by Mr. Curtis was in connection with an amendment to the tarifl Q. Where is the | seum?—J. A A It is in New houses a permanent c than 800 paintings by Nicolas Roerich. Q. Why was it said that if Cleo- patra’s nose had been shorter the whole face of the world would have been charged’—D. E. §. A. To convey the idea that if Cleo- patra had_been less attractive she would not have enslaved Julius Caesar and Mark Antony Q. What city or town is known as Little Venice? H A. Arendal, Roerich Mu- York City It ction of more Norway. Q. How large is the Salton Sea’— McC . Mc A. The Salton Sca is a lake in_the wide Colorado Desert or Imperial Val- ley, in Southeastern California. Under ordinary conditions it is a salt marsh covered in places by shallow lakes about 30 miles long. 12 miles wide and 280 feet below sea level. At times of Treshets the lakes expand into a water body covering from 40,000 to 50,000 acres. ewspapers of Other Lauds | Consgitutional Committee of the Corte proposed an amendment to the twer third article of the projected constitu- tion which provision declares that | “the rights of both sexes be recognized as equal in principle.” Senorita Kent objected to the words “in principle” as being too indefinite and likely to open up the way to all sorts of interpretations prejudicial to women. Senorita Campoamon, the other woman Deputy immediately took up the argu- ment, stating that “equality in princi- ple,or even in theory.is as near as man can approximate masculine rights without detriment and humilia- that insistence upon masculine freedon and privilege but de- grades her status and coarsens her na- ture to a degree which makes it im- possible for her to fulfill faithfully her true and divine function as the mother of the race: that history has shown that when women of various eras have sought to emulate men they have imi- ated and cherished their vices rather than their virtues. Senorita Campoamon’s arguments pre- vailed and the amendment to article 23 was rejected, as was also another amendment to article 28. offered by an- other Deputy, Senor Barriobero of Cor- doba, proposing that members of the varfous religious orders should, by rea- | son of their primal interest in ecclesias- tical duties, lose their rights to citizen- ship in the temporal state. The pro- posal was defeated by 113 ballots to 82. This was considered a significant victory by all the elements faithful to the hierarchy. U. S. Should Overcome Communist Propaganda From the Chicago Tribune. That American society should be sub- jected in the midst of its efforts to meet its problems upon its own terms |and with its own resources to an in- | vasion of foreign mischief-making is an intolerable infliction deserving more | efficient measures than have yet been adopted. Politicians of high rank are in confidential correspondence with a | foreign instrumentality deliberately or- | ganized and bent upon inflaming igno- |rance and misleading discontent and | misfortune not only in our own Amer- |ican household but throughout the |world. Here in Chicago it is at work with no prospect of any results except |the fomenting of futile but tragic | violence. It is so in other countri | The purposes of the Russian bolshevi government, operating through the in- ternational activities of the Communist internationale, are perfectly known by its pronouncements and Its action. It {1s financially supporting as well as or- | ganizing and directing groups through- | cut the United States engaged in edu- | cating youth to violence and to ideas | subversive of American principles and to our social peace. Yet not only do men in high public place openly favor giving the immense prestige of American official recognition to this | regime, but Russia is full of American | citizens engaged for high pay in per- forming services which communism cannot get from its own system. To bolster up a regime which con- spires and is making every practicable effort to destroy the American democ- racy is an amazing folly. To permit jour country to be overrun by secret emissaries engaged in an effort to de- stroy it is fatuous beyond belief. It is time to correct it. Foreign agitators should be run down and expelled. Their American allies should be punished under our laws: It is'a duty of na- tional defense as clear as the duty of defense from any other invasion. The Communist regime centered at Moscow has declared war against democratic America and its invasion should be met and defeated. The American Gov- ernment was established by the Amer- ican people for “the common defense. It should fulfill that duty. o Plenty of Talent. From the Hamilton Spectator. ‘The king of the hoboes declares his recent resignation was caused by his de- cision to marry, but there are wives who will have personal nominations to make for the vacated throne,